as a manor

Latin, pro manerio.

Land held 'as a manor' before the Conquest was land which the tenant was free to alienate since the land was his own, not his lord's.

Domesday Book has many synonyms for this freedom, which was one of the
basic distinctions of Anglo-Saxon landholding, the feature at the heart
of many post-Conquest disputes about ownership. Land described as held freely, jointly, in parage, or in freehold; or land held by a tenant who could go, could grant, could sell, or could withdraw, all probably had this freedom.